Harlequins full-back Mike Brown rules out complacency against London Irish at Twickenham

Mike Brown, the Harlequins full-back, insisted the memory of his starring role
for England in their victory over New Zealand will not distract him against
London Irish on his first return to Twickenam since that historic match.

Looking ahead: Mike Brown will put aside the memory of his last visit to Twickenham on SaturdayPhoto: GETTY IMAGES

Brown, who delivered his finest performance for England in 38-21 defeat of the All Blacks, has maintained his rich vein of form this month as Harlequins maintained their lead at the top of the Aviva Premiership.

Conor O'Shea's side will go into the 'Big Game 5', for which all 82,000 tickets have been sold, as heavy favourites against Irish as they have lost their past five league matches - including a 31-9 home defeat by Leicester Tigers last weekend.

Brown, who has been excelling at full-back for his club having played on the left wing for England, said there is no sense of complacency among the defending champions, however. Neither, the 27 year-old insisted, will playing at headquarters blur their focus. "It is just another game and you prepare yourself just as well as you would for any game," he said.

"It is going to be a great occasion but if you let it get to you that is where you will trip up. It is going to be a tough game against them, a London derby, and we are looking forward to it.

"I won't be thinking about the All Blacks game. This is another game, another day. Conor wouldn't let me take any notice of any talk of that and I am just focusing hard on performing at the weekend.

"It is going to be a tough test, like it has been before at Twickenham, so I am massively looking forward to it."

O'Shea has named an unchanged side from the starting XV that ground out an impressive victory at Northampton last Saturday. However, Rob Buchanan and George Lowe return to the Harlequins bench.

"After the All Blacks game I was straight back into it," Brown added. "Conor made sure I was straight back into training. They have looked after me well.

"It can be tough but there is a great atmosphere at Quins, a great environment, and a great culture. It was easy to slip back into a team that is going well. We have pulled off some good wins and are ticking along nicely. Hopefully we can keep it going."

Irish will also start with unchanged side, although George Skivington, Steve Shingler and new signing Pat Phibbs all coming on to the bench.

Their run of defeats has drawn the club into a relegation battle with Sale Sharks but captain Declan Danaher is convinced there is enough quality in their squad to play their way out of danger.

"It is a bit of a frustration because we have put in some good performances at home," the 32 year-old said. "We beat Northampton, we pushed Quins close, we probably should have beaten Gloucester at home and we have beaten Bath. But we have gone on the road and we have not performed.

"It is there but it is about getting it out. The talent is there in that backline, with Ian Humphreys, Shane Geraghty, Jonathan Joseph, Ant Watson - players like that. Probably there is no bigger stage for them to step up than Big Game 5 against Harlequins.

"We know they are good players, but it is about doing it week-in, week-out. Hopefully we can bring that out starting on Saturday."